And he has left us.
yet, in his absence,
His presence is
And shall be
Stronger than ever.

For he is
everywhere now,
And he is
inside of us;

We, who witnessed
The brilliance
Of his flame
And were warmed
by its heat;

We, who heard
the chimes
of his churchbell laughter
Ring the plains
of starry dawns;

We, who stood
in the pure rain
of his divine
And noble spirit
Are now its
blessed, honoured keepers.

Whithin and through us
He shall live on
And our lives
Shall ever be enriched
By him
in ways
Wondrous and untold.

Fly high, dear friend.

-Robert Zuckerman
March 31, 1993

Brandon Lee was the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee and Bruce's wife, Linda. He was born on February 1st, 1965, in Oakland, California. His father wanted him to train in martial arts, and started teaching him from a very early age. When his father died, Brandon went with his mother and sister, Shannon, to live in Los Angeles. Linda tried to keep them out of the limelight, and so give them as normal a childhood as possible.

Brandon: "Since my earliest memories, I always wanted to be an actor, and I pursued that from the time I was very young... I have really never felt that there were other paths for me."

Brandon took drama classes at high school, then went on to attend acting classes with Lee Strasberg (who has taught the likes of Marilyn Monroe) before studying acting at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusettes. After appearing on stage with the American New Theater Company, he returned to California to train at the Inosanto Academy of Martial Arts, run by two of his father's foremost students. It was here that he met Jeff Imada, a fellow student in martial arts who became close friends with Brandon. Jeff later worked on The Crow as stunt co-ordinator and collaborator on fight choreography.

Brandon's first professional acting job came when he was twenty, when he appeared in the television film Kung FU: The Movie (1986). His feature film debut was in Hong Kong in Legacy Of Rage (1988). Though he spoke fluent Cantonese at the time, Brandon's voice was dubbed in the film, which is standard practice for such assembly-line productions. Next came Laser Mission (1990) which was a low budget production filmed in Nambia and starring Ernest Borgnine alongside Brandon. Showdown in little Tokyo (1989) was Brandon's American feature film debut, but, despite his talent, he was still to be cast in a really challenging role, where the material he was using matched his acting ability. 20th Century Fox employed Brandon to star in Rapid Fire, in a role that was written with Brandon in mind. Jeff Imada worked with him on the fight sequences, to make them look more natural and believable. This, with Brandon's screen presence, made Rapid Fire quite a popular action film. 20th Century Fox recognised Brandon's potential and signed him for two more films. However, they weren't the only ones who thought that he could go the distance - The Crow producer Ed Pressman put Brandon on his roster, and signed him for three films.

Production began on The Crow on February 1st, 1993, Brandon's 28th birthday. On 31st March, with eight days of shooting left, he was injured while filming in the loft set (see The Crow - Accidents While Filming), and died.